A former Greater Manchester police detective who resigned over the force’s handling of the Rochdale child sexual abuse scandal has claimed that offenders identified in the original investigation are still free to abuse young girls in the town.
Speaking before the airing of a new BBC1 drama, Three Girls – which tells the story of three victims in the 2012 Rochdale sex grooming case – Margaret Oliver said police had still not learned lessons and called for the law to be changed so that senior officers could be prosecuted for negligence.
Oliver, who is played by Lesley Sharp in the three-part series, said she was still in touch with many of the victims. “I’m speaking to kids who are telling me that even to this day they are seeing offenders that they’ve named, walking around Rochdale,” she said. “Somebody saw one in London, another person told me that one has moved around the corner from her.
“That’s why I’m saying things haven’t changed, because those men have been named by those girls [to the police ...] and I know that they’re still out there walking around.”
In 2012, nine Asian men from Rochdale and Oldham were found guilty of offences including rape and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child. The court heard that between 2005 and 2008 the group gave the five victims, who were as young as 13, drink and drugs and “passed them around” for sex.
Oliver resigned from the police after 15 years in October 2012. She worked on Operation Span, which investigated reports of grooming in Rochdale, for about seven months, before deciding to leave. Her main concern was that allegations of rape and sexual abuse were not being recorded by police.
“I tried with every ounce of my determination to highlight to the chief constable and all the agencies – the IPCC, the children’s commissioner, the Home Office select committee – what was going on, but without success. No one really wanted to hear what I was saying and eventually I was left with a stark choice,” she said.
“There were so many big holes in what was going on ... I had never seen a job being run this way before. There were lots of things that were just not right. They wanted to do a quick job with a quick result.
“Children had spent months giving evidence in video interviews, disclosing men who had abused them and places where the abuse had happened, but those allegations were not being officially recorded and to this day have still not been recorded.”
Also starring Maxine Peake as sexual health worker Sara Rowbotham, who spent years trying to get authorities to take the grooming seriously, the first episode of Three Girls will air on Tuesday night.
Speaking last week, the drama’s writer, Nicole Taylor, said she felt confident that the work would not give far-right groups the opportunity to further their agenda, adding that extremists would “hitch their wagon opportunistically to anything”.
There is a longstanding legal principle that the police cannot be sued for negligence because they have a unique position in public service and the public interest lies in protecting them from such claims. “If the police were accountable then perhaps we would see proper changes,” says Oliver.
“But they’re not and I feel that they’re more interested in covering up for the organisation and the establishment than they are in carrying out the first duty of a police officer, which is to protect the vulnerable.”
A report by Greater Manchester police in 2015 looked at the conduct of 13 officers between 2008 and 2010, and served notices of misconduct on seven. One officer, an inspector, was found to have warranted disciplinary action, but retired before he could be sanctioned. The force then issued a statement apologising to the victims and acknowledging that “mistakes were made and victims let down”.
Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts said tackling the sexual exploitation of children and young people was an absolute priority for Greater Manchester police and its partners. “Protecting children is everyone’s responsibility and it is crucial that we work together to identify and prosecute individuals who prey on vulnerable children,” he said.
“Our specialist CSE [child sexual exploitation] teams in each division across Greater Manchester are successfully reaching out to young people. We have specially trained officers who provide young people with ongoing support, both from within the force and through key partner agencies ... We have made huge progress in our fight against CSE and those who commit these horrendous crimes against children.”
He added: “This increase in public awareness, as well as enhanced police officer understanding and more accurate recording of CSE reports, resulted in a significant rise in the number of CSE incidents reported to police. I want to reassure communities that our priority is to protect children and young people, prosecute offenders and prevent [them] from committing further offences.”
